Engine-starting device.



G. J. SPOHRER. ENGINE STARTING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2, 1910.

1,002,465. I Pat ented Sept. 5,1911.

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fir-31.... 5 i J 1 7 G. J. SPOHRER.

ENGINE STARTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNEZ, 1910.

Patented Sept. 5, 1911.

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GREGORY J. SPOHRER, 0F FRANKLIN, PENNSYLVANIA.

ENGINE-STARTING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5,1911.

Application filed June-2, 1910. Serial No. 564,575.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GREGORY J. SroHRnR, a citizen of the United States,residing at Franklin, in the county of Venango and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inEngine- Starting Devices, of which the following is a specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in engine starting devices andmore particularly to a device adapted to be operated by compressed airor exploded gas from the cylinders of'a motor and constructed andarranged upon. amotor driven vehicle to impart the initial movement tothe crank shaft of the motor.

Another-object resides in the provision of a device of the abovecharacter which is extremelysimple, very positive in its operationand-may be actuated at a minimum expenditure of power.

A still further object is to provide, a re ciprocating piston geared tothe motor shaft and adapted to be actuated by compressed air or explodedgas from the cylinders of a motor, a pressure tank being provided andconnected to the engine cylinders and means a for controlling. thesupply of air from said tank to the piston cylinder.

With these and other objects in view, the

invention consists of the novel features of construction and thecombination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described andclaimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 11s .a side elevation of a device constructed in accordance with thepresent invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section throughthe piston cylinder; Fig. 3

is a section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is adetail section of one end of the piston. cylinder showing the positionof the parts after the supply of air to the cylinder has beenautomatically out 01f.

Referring more particularly to the drawings 5 indicates the pistoncylinder in which a reciprocating piston 6 is arranged. The piston rod 7is secured to the-piston (3 and extends through one end of the cylinder.A headS is secured upon and closes the other end of the cylinder 5. Alongiti ldinal channel 9 is formed in the wall of the cylinder 5 andconnnunicates with said cylinder at the closed end 8 thereof. At thecommunication with the longitudinal 'chan nel 9, a short passage 13being formed in the end of the cylinder. A valve 14 is arranged in thecasing 10 and is formed with a stem 14 which ismovable in a stufiing box15 provided on the end of the valve casing. An

extension or arm 16 is also formed on the end of the cylinder on whichthe valve is arranged. Arms 17 extend from said extension and the bodyof the cylinder and are connected and formed into a bearing 18 for themotor shaft 19:

Upon the motor shaft 19 a gear 20 is loosely arranged and adjacent tosaid gear a'flanged disk 21 is keyed on the motor shaft. The flangeofthis disk is disposed within a reduced portion or recessed face of thegear 20. The disk 21 carries the pivoted pawls 22 which are arrangedthereon at diametrically opposite points and are adapted to engage witha ratchet 23 rigidly secured on themotor shaft 19. These pawls arenormally held in engagement with the teeth of the ratchet by means ofthe leaf springs 24. To the gear 20 one end of a helically coiled spring25 is secured, the other end of said spring being secured to the bearing18. The piston rod 7 is formed with or has secured thereto a rack 26 theteeth of which are engaged with the teeth of the gear 20 at all timesin'the movement of the piston 6. At a point diametrically opposite tothe rack 26 the piston rod is also formed with a longitudinallyextending rib 27. This rib is ada ted to engage with the lower end ofthe va ve stem 14:, as shown in Fig. 1 and when so engaged the valve 11- is lifted from its seat 11 so as to opencommunication between thechambers 11 and 12 and permit the passage .of air under compression Ithrough the valve and the passages or channels 9 and 18 into theend ofthe cylinder 5 behind the piston 6. Adjacent to its forward endthecylinder 5 is formed with an exhaust port 5 through which the air isadapted to escape after the piston reaches the limit of itsreci'procatory movement in one direction, as will more fully hereinafterappear. It

will be noted from reference to Fig. 3 that I the end of the arm 16 isenlarged and is formed with a longitudinal groove 16 which receives therib 27 and provides a guide for the longitudinal movement of the pistonrod.

'In the application. of my invention air or exploded gas from thecylinders of aupon the body of the vehicle land is coninto thecylinders. 20.

tubing.

nected to bne or more cylindersof the motor ,by means of the piping 29in-which a valve 3( ).is arranged, and controls the supply of air to thetank. The ipe 29 has a check valve therein at each of the motorcylinders to prevent back pressure of the burned gas The air is adaptedto be conveyed to the valve 10 through the medium. of the piping 31which may either be a fiexible hose or sheet metal At a convenient pointin the pipe 31 a control valve 32 is arranged. This valve is'in the formof an odinary stop cock and is rotatably mounted in a suitable casingwhich is'provided with an exhaust or outlet port, as shown at 33. Acurved bore or passage 34 extends transversely through the valve memberat one side of itsoenter and is adapted to connect the two sections ofthe pi e 31 to open comfmunication between the air tank 28 and the valve1 0. This arrangement of the parts is clearly shown in Fig. 1 and whenso arranged the air enters the chamber 12 of the valve 10 from whence itpasses into the chamber 11 and from said chamber into the longitudinalchannel 9 inthe 'cylhider wall. It is finally discharged into the end ofthe cylinder and between the iston 6 and the end 8 of the cylindercasing. It will be obvious that when sufficient airhas thus beenadmitted to the cylinder the pressure of the same upon the piston 6 willcause the piston and its rod to move longitudinally toward the oppositeend of the cylinder. This move.- ment of the piston rod will cause the.rotation ofthe gear 20. owing to the engagementof theteet-h of said gearwith the teeth of.

the rack 26 carried by the piston rod. The gear 20 and the disk 21 willbe looked upon the motor shaft by the engagement of the pawls 22 withthe teeth of the rack 23 which is carried by the gear. It will beobvious that as the gear 20 is thus moved to rotate the shaft, thespring 25 will be coiled. After the rib 27 passes beyond the valve stem14,

the valve 14 moves into its seat and closes communication between thechambers 11 and 12 thus shutting off the supply of airto the cylinder,5. This action takes place before the piston 6 reaches the exhaustport'28 so that there is still the pressure of air acting upon thepiston after the valve is closed.

reverse rotation of the gear. action of the piston will generallyproduce 32 will release the air from the cylinder .upon

the return stroke of the piston,the valve 14 being immediately unseatedby engagement with the beveled or inclined end 27 of the rib 27 Thus thereturn stroke of the piston will force all air from the cylinder throughthe valve and the pipe 31 and discharge the same at the outlet 33. Thereturn movement of the piston 6 is accomplished throu h the medium ofthe spring 25 which rota es the gear 20 on the shaft, the pawls 22moving over the teeth of the ratchet 23 during this One suchsuflicientrevolutions of the shaft to start the motor and after themotor has beenstarted, the pawls 22 carried by the disk 21 keyed on theshaft are thrown outward by the centrifugal force occasioned by thespeed of rotation of the shaft. This outward movement of the pawls islimited b means of the stop pins 22. fixed on the dis so that thesprings 24 will not be bent or distorted so as to render the sameinoperative to return the pawls to their normal positions.

From the above it will be seen that I have produced a very simple andefiicient starting mechanism for gas engines and the like such as arecommonly used in the automobile industry. In the event that sufiicientpressure cannot be obtained from the engine cylinders, an air pump ofany desired construction may be carried in the machine to supply air tothe tank 28. The device is also very durable in construction andpositive in its operation so that the engine may be quickly startedwithout necessitating any manual exertion.

I While I have shown and described the particular embodiment of myinvent-ion which I deem best adapted to the purposes in View, it will beobvious that the same may be variously modified in form, proportion andconstruction without departing from the essential features orsacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is:

1. In an engine starting device, the combination with a cylinder and apiston mounted.to reciprocate therein, of a gear ada ted to be looselymounted on an engine s aft, a rod extending from the piston through oneend of the cylinder provided with rack teeth engaging with the teeth ofsaid car,

pipe, and means carried by the piston rod for automatically raising saidvalve and admitting air to the cylinder to reciprocate said piston.

2. Inan engine starting device, the combination with a cylinder and apiston mountits wall connecting the air inlet pipe with the other end ofthe cylinder, a gravity valve member arranged in one end of the cylinderand normally closing communication between said passage and the inletpipe, and means movable with the piston in its reciprocatory movement toelevate said valve and open communication between said inlet pipe andthe air passage to reciprocate said piston.

3. In an engine starting device, the combination with a cylinder andapiston mounted to reciprocate therein, of an engine shaft disposedtransversely with relation to the cylinder, a rod extending from thepiston through one end of the cylinder, operating connections betweenthe engine shaft and the piston rod whereby said shaft is rotated in onedirection of movement of the piston, an inlet pipe connected to one endof the cylinder and to a suitable source of air supply, a valve mountedin the end of the cylinder and normally closing communication betweenthe same and said inlet pipe, said piston rod being engaged with thevalve stem and holding the valve open through the greater part of itsreciprocatory movement to admit air to the cylinder to reciprocate saidpiston, the wall of said cylinder having an exhaust port therein toexhaust the air at the end of the movement of said piston in onedirection.

4:. In an engine starting device, the combination of a cylinder, apiston arranged to reciprocate therein having a piston rod extendingthrough one end of the cylinder, a bearing formed on one end of thecylinder,

,an engine shaft mounted in' said bearing,

means connecting said piston rod and engine shaft to rotate the latter,a valve casing formed on the end of said cylinder having a centralpartition therein'providing two chambers, a valve normally closingcommunication between said chambers and provided with a stem extendingthrough one end of the casing, a longitudinal rib formed on the pistonrod adapted to engage said valve stem'and unseat the same to opencommunication between the chambers, said cylinder wall having alongitudinal channel therein connected tonne of the valve chambers andextending to the opposite end of the cylinder to supply air thereto,said cylinder wall adjacent to its forward end having an exhaust porttherein, the longitudinal movement of the piston in the cylinder in onedirection being adapted to disengage the rib from the valve stem to shutoff the air from the cylinder before the piston reaches said exhaustport, and air tank, a pipe connecting said tank to the valve, and acontrolling valve in said pipe having an outlet and adapted to controlthe supply of" air from the tank to the cylinder and to exhaust the airfrom the cylinder upon the return stroke of the piston.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

GREGORY J. SPOHRER. \Vitnesses FAYETTE E. SMITH, \VALTER F. Ross.

five cents each. by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington,D. C.

